HE 
2771 

AI3C3 


A  DOR  ESS 


-OF- 


MR.  PATRICK  CALHOUN, 


DEFJVERED  AT  THE 


FIRST  ANNUAL  BANQUET 


OF  THE 


ATLANTA  CHAMBER  OF  COMMHKCH 


FEBRUARY  13,  1890. 


ATLANTA,  GA.: 
Thb  Constitution  Job  Office^ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


httpV/www.archive.org/det^ils/addressofmrpatriOOcalhrich 


ADDRBSS 


-OF 


MR,  PATRICK  CALHOUN, 


DELIVERED  AT  THE 


FIRST  ANNUAL  BANQUET 


OF  THE 


ATLANTA  CHAMBER  OF  COMMERCE, 


FEBRUARY  13,  1890. 


"What  we  need  is  that  character  of  railroad 
combination  which  will  enable  the  Southeast  to 
enter  vigorously  into  competition  with  the  North 
lor  a  share  of  the  commerce  of  the  continent,  and 
that  will  tend  to  promote  the  industrial  develop- 
ment ot  our  Piedmont  and  mountain  sections  and 
build  up  our  South  Atlantic  seaports.'" 


ATLANTA,  GA. 

The  Constitution  Job  Office, 

189<). 


/^Cs 


t       c 

«  •     •  *.   •  «     < 


ADDRESS 

— or —  ^,-  t'  -  t    • 

Mr.   Patrick   Calhoun, 


Delivered   at  the    First  Annual    Banquet  of  th« 

Atlanta   Chamber  of  Commerce, 

on  13th  February,  1890. 


J/r.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen — Atlanta  is  the  result  of  a 
railroad  accident — of  a  collision  between  swift-tooted 
progress,  the  forerunner  of  railroad  development,  and  that 
slow  moving  conservatism  which  sees  danger  in  the  shadow 
that  follows  every  form  of  progress.  Early  in  the  railroad 
history  of  the  State,  it  became  apparent  that  the  most  im- 
portant roads  then  projected,  would  meet  near  this  spot. 
The  necessity  of  connecting  the  South  Atlantic  sea  ports  with 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  commanded  the  attention  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  South.  A  committee  of  the  Legislature, 
in  an  able  report,  urged  that  this  State  should  build  a  grand 
trunk  line,  from  a  point  on  the  Tennessee  river  near  Look- 
out Mountain,  to  a  point  near  the  southeastern  bank  of  the 
Chattahoochee,  and  branches  thence  to  her  important 
towns,  which,  like  veins  of  the  human  body,  should  lead  to 
a  common  center.  The  widespread  sentiment  in  favor  of 
reaching  out  to  the  West,  resulted  in  the  Act  for  building 
the  Western  and  Atlantic  Railroad,  and  in  an  invitation  to 
the  roads  projected  in  the  State,  to  meet  the  grand  "  trunk 
at  its  eastern  terminus*  *  At  that  time  Decatur  was  one 
of  the  prosperous  towns  of  Georgia  ;  the  county  .seat  of 
a  large  county,  which  included  the  land  on  which  At- 
lanta is  situated,  and  stretched  westward  to  the  Chattahoo- 
chee river.     Its  citizens  were 'intelligent,  but  they  failed  to 

M80328  ^ 


appreciate  their  opportunity.  Tradition  tells  us, that  they 
objected  tD  Decatur  being  made  the  terminus.  They  did 
not  want  tlieir  slumbers  disturbed  by  the  blowing  and 
Wilvbipg  (^jekgi^ies,  and  they  feared  the  contaminating  in- 
fluences of  the  immoral  characters  which,  it  was  supposed, 
the  railroads  would  gather  about  the  terminus.  They  ob- 
jected to  the  State  Road  being  built  to  Decatur,  and  per- 
mitted the  Georgia  Railroad  to  be  extended  through  their 
town  to  an  unpeopled  spot,  where  it  met  the  State  Road. 
Around  that  spot  has  grown  this  city.  Thus,  once  pros- 
perous Decatur,  startled  by  a  shadow,  escapes  obscurity 
only  as  a  suburb  of  Atlanta;  while  Atlanta,  fair  daughter  of  a 
railroad  union,  known  in  infancy  as  the  Terminus,  and  de- 
scribed in  youth  as  '^a  point  in  DeKalb  county,  Georgia, 
not  far  from  Decatur,'^  stands  to-day  in  her  majesty  and 
might,  with  the  bloom  of  youth  still  fresh  upon  her  cheeks, 
a  great,  opulent  and  populous  city,  the  capital  of  her 
State,  the  pride  of  her  section,  the  metropolis  of  the  South- 
east, the  very  embodiment,  indeed,  of  those  broad  and 
liberal  sentiments  of  progress  and  patriotism  which  most 
distinguish  and  adorn  the  highest  development  of  Ameri- 
can civilization.  There  is  no  marriage  more  prolific  than 
that  between  an  important,  healthy  railroad  terminus,  and  a 
liberal,  vigorous  spirit  of  progress.  From  such  an  union 
sprung  this  beautiful  city — the  child  of  the  railroad,  the 
child  of  progress ;  dowered  with  health  and  wealth,  with 
energy  and  strength,  with  virtue  and  public  spirit,  and 
with  every  noble, quality  to  fit  her  for  leadership  in  the  race  of 
material  development,  and  to  make  her  the  exponent  of 
the  highest  culture,  the  broadest  patriotism  and  the  loftiest 
aspirations  of  her  State  and  section.  How  little  did  the 
people  of  Decatur  foresee  this  result !  Not  here  the  con- 
taminating influences  that  corrupt  society,  but  the  church 
and  the  school  house — the  merchant  and  the  manufacturer 
with  their  great  stores  and  factories,  giving  employment  to 


5 

thousaads — and  their  homes,  the  centers  of  culture  and  re- 
finement. And  at  their  table,  the  foremost  men  of  the  coun- 
try— the  Governor  of  the  great  State  of  Ohio,  who  has  so 
recently  led  his  Democi-atic  cohorts  to  glorious  victory,  and 
whom  his  party  may  yet  call  to  lead  greater  cohorts  to 
higher  victory  ;  the  distinguished  Congressman  of  West 
Virginia,  whose  great  speech  on  the  tarifiF  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  whole  country — the  President  of  our  sister 
chamber  of  the  greatest  city  of  the  Western  world — the  bril- 
liant Democratic  leader  of  Massachusetts,  that  grand  old 
Commonwealth  of  which  every  American  is  proud,  and 
which  is  doubly  dear  to  us  now  because  of  the  royal  wel- 
come extended  to  our  immortal  Grady — and  all  these  men, 
so  distinguished  in  their  respective  callings,  with  what 
pride  we  welcome  them  ! 

Sir!  What  single  factor  was  common  to  this  whole  result? 
What  instrument  most  has  fashioned  it? 

THE  THROB   OF   THE   ENGINE   IS   THE    HEART-BEAT  OF  CIV- 
ILIZATION. 

Intelligence,  wealth,  Christianity,  follow  it  everywhere. 
Less  than  a  century  ago,  it  was  gravely  argued  that  the  vast 
territory  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains,  not  contiguous  to 
the  great  rivers,  was  practically  useless,  because  what  it  pro- 
duced could  not  be  transported  to  the  markets  of  the  world. 
But  the  railroad  has  penetrated  the  mountain  fastnesses  and 
rendered  their  hidden  wealth  available,  has  crossed  the  prai- 
ries, peopled  them  with  cities,  and  transformed  their  treeless 
solitudes  into  fruitful  farms;  has  stretched  from  ocean  to 
ocean,  driving  before  it  the  savage  with  his  war  paint  and  his 
tomahawk,  bringing  with  it  the  home,  the  school  house  and 
the  church,  and  moves  the  commerce  of  the  continent,  carry- 
ing peace  and  plenty  to  the  dwellings  of  the  poor,  and  has 
made  it  practicable  for  a  young  girl,  unattended  and  alone, 
to  travel  unarmed  and  unmolested  around  the  world.     It  is 


the  railroad  that  has  built  up,  peopled  and  developed  this 
country  with  rapidity  unequalled.  It  is  the  railroad  that 
has  contributed  most  to  national  wealth.  It  has  done  all 
it  could,  and  is  doing  all  it  can,  to  promote  the  welfare  of 
the  people.  The  country  is  dependent  upon  the  railroad 
for  its  growth,  and  the  railroad,more  than  any  other  industry, 
is  dependent  upon  the  growth  of  the  country.  The  railroad 
has  a  direct  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  every  kind  of  busi- 
ness. Every  additional  inhabitant,  every  additional  store, 
every  additional  factory,  means  increased  freight,  and  in- 
creased freight  means  increased  prosperity  for  the  road. 
The  railroads  have  been  built  at  an  enormous  cost.  It  re- 
quires a  vast  volume  of  freight  to  enable  them  even  to  pay 
operating  expenses,  and  it  is  only  by  increasing  this  volume 
to  such  proportions  that  it  can  be  handled  economically,  that 
the  roads  can  earn  any  profit  for  their  stockholders. 

THE  WELFARE    OF    THE    PEOPLE    MEANS    THE  WELFARE  OF 
THE    RAILROAS. 

The  greatest  concern  of  those  who  manage  the  railway 
systems  of  the  country  is,  how  can  they  best  reconcile  all 
conflicting  interests;  how  can  they  best  promote  the  welfare 
of  the  section  tributary  to  their  roads;  how  can  they  render 
their  patrons  the  most  efficient  service.  Nor  are  these  ques- 
tions born  of  philanthropy.  To  answer  them  correctly  is 
the  best  way  to  serve  the  interest  of  those  whose  money  is 
invested  in  the  roads. 

It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  welfare  of  the  roads  and 
the  welfare  of  the  people  are  antagonistic.  They  go  hand 
in  hand ;  and  it  is  therefore  ridiculous  to  suspect  that  the 
railroads  would  strike  a  blow  at  the  prosperity  of  the 
country.  Men  do  not  go  contrary  to  their  own  interests. 
Every  intelligent  man  admits  these  facts,  and  yet  there  is  a 
widespread  effort  to  create  antagonism  between  the  people 
and  their  railroads.     It  is  clear  that  none  should  exist.     It 


is  clear  that  that  which  exists  is  often  unjust,  and  nearly 
always  unreasoning.  What  is  the  cause?  Have  the  rail- 
roads performed  their  duties  to  the  public?  Have  they 
decreased  the  cost  of  transportation,  and  increased  the  facil- 
ities for  travel?  If  so,  why  should  dissatisfaction  exist? 
It  arises  from  two  classes  of  causes ;  one  is  adventitious ; 
the  other  inherent,  springing  from  conditions  beyond  human 
control.  Among  the  first  may  be  classed  railw^ay  misman- 
agement, resulting  too  often  from  railroad  competition, 
producing  unjust  discrimination  and  railroad  wars;  the 
efforts  of  those  engaged  in  building  new  roads,  who,  for 
selfish  purposes,  antagonize  the  old;  and  last,  but  not  least, 
the  misstatements  of  designing  men  who  would  excite  pop- 
ular prejudice  to  secure  personal  advancement.  My  time 
is  too  short  to  discuss  the  mere  adventitious  causes  of  dis- 
satisfaction. Suffice  it  to  say,  they  will  w  ilt  and  die  beneath 
the  summer  heat  of  enlightened  thought.  But,  underlying 
the  railroad  situation,  there  are  conditions,  permanent  in 
their  character,  which  the  public  must  recognize  are  beyond 
the  power  of  the  roads  to  control.  Without  a  clear  concep- 
tion of  them,  no  correct  opinion  can  be  formed. 

THE    DISCRIMINATIOXS  OF  NATURE. 

God  discriminated  when  He  created  the  world.  At  one  point. 
He  put  lime  and  coal  and  iron  so  near  together,  that  a  man 
can  throw  a  stone  across  the  veins  of  all.  At  another.  He  ran 
His  rocky  hills  so  close  to  the  shore,  that  the  rivers  come 
tumbling  to  the  sea,  enabling  the. sailing  vessel  to  bring  the 
raw  material  to  the  factory's  door,  run  by  the  only  power 
practicable  for  moving  heavy  machinery,  prior  to  the  intro- 
duction of  steam,  and  enablingthe  merchant  to  reload  the  ves- 
sel with  the  factory's  product,  and  send  it  by  Avater,  the  then 
only  practicable  means  for  distant  transportation,  to  the 
markets  of  the  country;  and  here  great  factories  rose.  At 
another,  He  made  his  mountain  ranges  recede  so  far  inland, 


that  vast  lowlands,  through  which  rivers  sluggish  run,  lie 
between  the  mountains  and  the  sea — lowlands  where  the 
cotton  grows.  At  another.  He  stretched  great  prairies, 
adapted  best  to  grain.  Through  the  center  of  the  continent, 
from  north  to  south.  He  directed  the  course  of  a  mighty 
river,  giving,  with  its  tributaries,  thousands  of  miles  of 
navigable  waters,  emptying,  before  the  day  of  railroads,  the 
commerce  of  its  imperial  territory  into  the  splendid  Gulf  of 
Mexico;  and  on  its  banks  mighty  cities  grew.  From  east 
to  west,  along  our  northern  frontier,  He  stretched  a  chain 
of  great  and  navigable  lakes.  On  the  eastern  coast.  He 
opened  a  noble  bay,  into  which  pours  the  splendid  Hudson, 
broad  and  deep,  whose  waters  were  easily  connected  by 
canals  with  this  great  chain  of  western  lakes.  With  these 
natural  conditions  the  railroads  have  had  to  deal,  and  deal- 
ing, find  that  man  demands  that  they  shall  destroy  the  dis- 
criminations nature  made.  The  planter,  who  formerly  hauled 
his  products  by  wagon,  to  the  city  on  the  river,  at  a  post 
greater  than  he  can  ship  them  now  a  thousand  miles  by  rail, 
and  who  before  paid  readily  the  river  freights  in  addition 
to  the  cost  of  his  private  conveyance,  demands — since  the 
railroads  have  been  built^ — not  only  to  be  put  on  an  equal- 
ity with  the  city,  but,  if  he  is  nearer,  that  he  shall  pay  even 
less  freight  to  the  sea.  The  city,  in  turn,  complains  that  its 
former  trade  now  goes  direct  to  distant  markets.  The  town, 
situated  nearer  the  coal  and  iron  fields,  demands  that  it 
shall  be  given  the  full  benefit  of  its  natural  position.  The 
town,  a  hundred  miles  away,  wants  coal  just  as  cheap,  and 
feels  discriminated  against  if  it  does  not  get  it.  The  wheat 
grower  on  the  distant  prairies  of  Dakota,  in  order  to  get 
his  wheat  to  market,  requires  from  the  railroad  a  very  small 
through  rate.  The  wheat  grower,  nearer  the  sea,  complains 
that  this  is  discrimination  against  him.  The  manufacturers 
of  the  east  demand  a  rate  sufficiently  low  to  enable  their 
products  to  reach  the  distant  markets  of  the  west,  but  the 


9 


western  manufactures,  nearer  those  markets,  complain  that 
this  is  discrimination  against  them.  Conflict — conflict — 
everywhere  !  Every  point,  with  natural  advantages,  demand- 
ing that  the  railroads  shall  arrange  rates  so  as  not  to  inter- 
fere with  them,  and  every  point,  not  so  well  located,  demand- 
ing rates  that  will  put  it  on  a  full  equality  with  its  more 
favored  rival.  Through  all  these  complicated  and  conflict- 
ing interests,  the  railroads  must  steer  their  difficult  way. 
They  are  forced  to  recognize  that  the  wheat  grown  on  the 
plains  of  the  west,  comes  into  competition  in  the  markets  of 
the  world  with  the  wheat  grown  on  the  steppes  of  Russia, 
or  on  the  fertile  fields  of  India;  and  that,  for  the  wheat  of 
Dakota  to  reach  the  bakery  at  London,  it  must  be  carried 
at  a  rate  so  low  as  to  leave  but  an  infinitesimal  profit  for 
each  mile  transported;  and  yet,  because  the  roads  take  this 
wheat  to  distant  markets  at  so  small  a  profit,  it  is  claimed 
that  they  ought  to  haul  the  wheat  grown  along  their  lines 
to  local  stations,  at  the  same  rate  per  mile.  To  raise  their 
through  rates  to  the  local  standard,  would  bankrupt  the 
farmer  of  Dakota,  destroy  the  wheat-growing  industry  of 
the  west,  involve  in  one  grand  catastrophe  the  development 
of  that  vast  section,  and  raise  the  price  of  food  throughout 
the  world;  to  lower  their  local  rates  to  the  through  stand- 
ard, would  bankrupt  the  railroads,  destroy  their  usefulness 
and  further  development,  and  produce  a  financial  crash  that 
would  overwhelm  in  one  common  ruin  the  credit  and  pros- 
perity of  the  whole  country. 

THE  RAILROAD   IS    THE  CREATOR    OF   WIDESPREAD  COMPE- 
TITION. 

Sir,  no  instrument  ever  devised  by  man  has  so  tended  to 
destroy  the  discriminations  of  nature  as  the  railroad.  An- 
nihilating space  and  time,  it  makes  Florida  a  market  garden 
for  New  York  and  Chicago;  the  prairies  of  the  West,  the 
granaries  of  the  world  ;  and  brings  into  active  competition 


10 

similar  products  of  all  sections.  It  is  the  creation  of 
wide-spread  competition.  Through  it  the  iron  and  the 
coal  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  of  Alabama  and  Tennessee, 
compete.  Through  it,  the  tjotton  factories  of  Georgia  and 
Carolina,  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  compete. 
Through  it  India  and  Russia,  Idaho  and  Kansas,  sell  the 
product  of  their  golden  harvest,  in  active  competition,  to  the 
cities  of  Europe.  But,  sir,  not  content  with  bringing  similar 
products,  from  all  countries,  "into  vigorous  competition  every- 
where, it  brings  all  classes  of  articles  adapted  to  the 
same  Vise,  into  competition  with  each  other.  It  enables 
brick  to  compete  with  wood,  granite,  with  marble,  and 
permits  the  Indiana  farmer  to  sell  his  surplus  corn,  once 
burned  for  fuel,  in  close  competition  with  the  food  products 
of  Europe. 

RAILWAY  COMBINATIONS   NECESSARY. 

Sir,  the  Railroad  must  solve  vast  and  complicated  com- 
mercial problems.  It  must  protect  vast  and  complicated 
interests.  It  must  consider  factors  world-wide  in  their 
bearings.  To  meet  these  demands — to  partially  destroy 
the  discriminations  of  nature — to  put  the  productions  of 
one  section  into  the  distant  markets  of  another — to  put  the  . 
products  of  this  country  into  the  markets  of  the  world, 
in  competition  with  the  products  of  other  countries — 
to  make  the  charge  on  commerce  small  enough  to  permit 
that  commerce  to  grow  to  immense  proportions — to  create 
universal  individual  competition — vast  railway  combina- 
tions have  become  necessary.  These  have  created  a  feeling 
of  distrust  among  the  people,  who,  conscious  daily  of 
the  existence  of  the  great  combinations,  but  feeling,  only 
indirectly,  their  benefits  and  their  lessening  charges,  are 
educated,  by  the  designing,  or  the  uninformed,  to  look  upon 
the  very  means  of  their  prosperity  as  a  monster  of  destruc- 
tion, ready  to  enwrap  them  in  its  mighty  folds.     Is  it  won- 


11 

derful  that  an  interest  of  such  enormous  proportions,  that 
has  grown  with  such  rapidity,  that  has  had  to  meet  and  solve 
such  vast  and  complicated  problems,  should  have  made 
mistakes,  created  dissatisfactions,  and  aroused  many  bitter 
and  vindicative  enemies?  But  the  great  practical  questions 
are:  How  have  the  railroads  served  the  people?  How  have 
they  met  the  demands  upon  them  ?  Are  the  injuries  com- 
plained of  the  result  of  voluntary  injustice,  or  have  they 
been  produced  by  forces  and  environments,  for  which  the 
railroads  are  not  responsible,  and  which  are  beyond  their 
control  ?  At  what  cost  to  the  people  do  the  roads  conduct 
their  business?  What  facilities  do  they  furnish?  What 
charge  do  they  make  upon  the  commerce  of  the  country  for 
the  vast  service  which  they  render  to  the  dev^elopment  of  its 
material  resources  and  its  enlightened  civilization  ?  Sir,  no 
other  business  has  ever  reached  the  same  perfection  in  detail, 
or  has  accomplished  such  grand  results.  The  prompt  dis- 
patch with  which  freight  is  handled,  the  safety  and  the  speed 
with  which  millions  of  people  are  conveyed,  demand  our 
admiration  and  respect.  How  readily  the  railroad  adopts 
every  improvement,  seizes  upon  ever\^  invention,  that  can 
promote  the  comfort  of  passengers,  or  facilitate  the  delivery 
of  freight.  But  as  rapid  as  has  been  the  development  of 
this  industry,  as  enormous  as  has  been  the  sum  of  money 
expended  in  its  creation,  as  striking  as  are  the  facilities  it 
affords  for  handling  merchandise,  as  remarkable  as  are  the 
comfort  and  safety  with  which  it  transports  countless  mill- 
ions of  passengers,  the  most  astounding  fact  is 

THE  CHEAPNESS  OF  THE  CHAKGE  IT  MAKES 

for  the  incalculable  service  it  renders.  The  immense  vol- 
ume of  freight  carried  by  the  roads,  of  all  classes,  the  heavy 
and  the  light,  the  car-load  and  the  bundle,  pays  an  average 
charge  of  not  more  than  one  cent,  per  ton,  per  mile.  The 
average  charge,  made  by  the  trunk  lines  north  of  the  Ohio, 


12 

is  only  seven  mills,  per  ton,  per  mile  on  all  classes  of  com- 
modities transported.  Think  of  it — seven  mills  per  ton,  per 
mile.  Out  of  this  sum,  smaller  than  any  coin  of  our  Gov- 
ernment, must  be  paid  all  the  cost  of  carriage,  all  the 
maintenance  of  way,  all  the  taxes,  and  all  the  improvements, 
and  all  the  general  expenses  of  the  roads.  These  expenses, 
so  tremendous  in  the  aggregate,  have  been  reduced  until 
they  average  only  about  five  mills  per  ton,  per  mile. 

At  least  five-sevenths  of  all  that  the  railroads  earn,  is 
spent  in  the  employment  of  labor  and  in  expenses,  almost 
entirely  in  the  sections  through  which  they  run.  The  profit 
upon  the  millions  and  millions  invested  in  building  and  im- 
proving the  roads  must  come  out  of  the  remaining  two  mills 
per  ton,  per  mile.  Reflect  upon  it !  The  bondholder  and 
stockholder  must  rely  upon  an  income  of  one-fifth  of  a 
single  cent  per  ton,  per  mile,  for  their  interest  and  their  divi- 
dends. How  insignificant  this  charge  upon  the  commerce 
of  the  country — less  for  carrying  a  ton  of  merchandise  a 
mile,  than  the  postage  you  pay  on  a  single  letter  mailed  for 
local  delivery  I 

Assuming  that  the  silk  in  your  wife's  dress  weighs  five 
pounds,  and  that,  paying  the  highest  rate  of  freight,  the 
profit  to  the  road  for  carrying,  in  bulk,  the  silk  from  which 
it  was  made,  was  four  mills  per  ton  per  mile,  double  the 
average  profit  on  the  freight  hauled  by  the  trunk  lines, 
then  all  the  profit  the  road  received  for  hauling  it  a  mile 
was  one-thousandth  of  a  single  cent.  Ponder  it !  To  make 
a  single  cent  it  was  necessary  to  haul  that  dress,  costing  fifty 
dollars,  perhaps,  and  paying  the  merchant  a  profit  of  ten 
dollars,  one  thousand  miles. 

Mr.  Edward  Atkinson  estimates  that  the  cost  of  trans- 
porting wheat  from  Dakota  to  the  city  of  Boston  enters  less 
as  an  element  into  the  price  of  bread  than  the  delivery  by 
the  baker,  which  is  supposed  to  be  free ;  and  yet,  the  ten- 
dency everywhere  is  to  lower  the  rates  of  freight.     To  per- 


13 

mit  the  pig  iron  of  Birmingham  to  be  sold  in  the  Pittsburg 
market,  the  Southern  roads  charge  about  five  mills  per  ton, 
per  mile.  To  put  the  Georgia  melon  on  the  table  in  Cin- 
cinnati or  Chicago — a  perishable  freight  requiring  rapid 
movement  and  entailing  great  risk — the  railroad  charges 
only  eight  mills  per  ton,  per  mile — less  for  carrying  a  ton  of 
melons  a  mile  than  one-sixth  of  the  nickel  which  you  would 
pay  a  boy  to  carry  a  single  melon  across  the  street.  Is  it 
any  wonder  that  millions  upon  millions  of  money,  invested 
in  railroads,  pay  no  interest  or  dividends  ?  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  the  $9,369,000,000,  representing  the  railroad  invest- 
ment of  America,  pay  an  average  interest  to  the  bondhold- 
ers and  creditors  of  only  4.17  per  cent,  and  an  average 
dividend  to  the  stockholders  of  only  1.77  per  cent. — a  less 
rate  of  interest  than  is  earned  by  capital  invested  in  any 
other  industry  in  the  country. 

While  there  has  been  a  steady  reduction  in  freight  rates 
and  in  passenger  fares,  there  has  been  a  steady  increase  in 
the  demands  of  the  public  for  still  greater  dispatch  of  busi- 
ness and  better  facilities.  Compare  our  railroads  of  to-day 
with  those  of  fifty  years  ago ;  the  sleeping  cars  and  vestibule 
trains,  the  ninety  ton  locomotives,  the  rock  ballasted  road- 
beds and  the  heavy  steel  rails,  with  the  old  fashioned  coach, 
the  little  engines  and  flat  rails  on  stringers.  Then  compare 
the  rate  per  ton  on  freight  to-day,  with  the  rate  per  ton  on 
freight  then. 

We  have  in  Georgia  a  striking  illustration  of  the  differ- 
ence between  the  conditions  which  surround  roads  now  and 
in  1840.  The  Central  Railroad  was  then  about  110  miles 
long  ;  it  earned  $113,000  ;  it  ran  but  a  single  train  for  both 
passengers  and  freight,  and  its  entire  operating  expenses 
and  maintainance  of  way  was  only  about  $34,000.  It  paid 
a  handsome  dividend  and  had  a  good  surplus  left.  To-day, 
the  Atlanta  and  Florida,  105  miles  in  length,  earns  about 
$120,000    per    annum — more    per    mile  than  the   Central 


14 

earned   in  1840 — and  yet  it  costs  over  $80,000  per  annum 
to  operate  it. 

It  is  difficult  to  appreciate  how  cheaply  freight  is  now 
hauled.  See  the  ponderous  locomotive  as  it  passes,  bearing 
a  train  of  thirty  cars  or  more,  each  loaded  with  more  than 
thirty  tons  of  freight.  Watch  it  as  it  speeds  on  its  way. 
Reflect  upon  the  care  that  must  be  exercised  by  the  train 
dispatcher,  who  controls  its  movement;  the  thousands  of 
men  employed  by  that  railroad ;  the  intricate  and  compli- 
cated machinery  that  enables  that  train  to  be  moved  with 
dispatch,  and  with  safety  to  the  thousands  of  passengers 
who  are  carried  on  the  same  line — then  ask  yourself,  what 
tribute  was  levied  upon  the  commodities  in  that  great,  pon- 
derous train  for  each  mile  it  traversed. 

And  yet,  sir,  in  1840  so  vast  was  the  improvement  of 
the  railroads  over  the  wagon  and  the  stage  coach,  and  so 
much  less  was  their  charge,  that  the  people  hailed  with 
delight  their  building,  granted  them  charters  of  unlimited 
power,  voted  millions  of  the  public  treasure  to  aid  in  their 
construction,  and  held  in  the  highest  esteem  the  men  who 
risked  their  fortunes  in  the  country's  development.  We 
do  not  sufficiently  appreciate  the  vast  difference  in  the  con- 
ditions with  which  society  was  confronted  fifty  years  ago 
and  now.  At  that  time  the  commerce  of  the  country  was 
limited.  It  was  localized  by  natural  obstacles  that  confined 
it  within  narrow  boundaries.  In  relation  to  the  then  exist- 
ing means  of  internal  transportation,  Atlanta  was  farther 
from  Augusta,  Augusta  from  Charleston,  and  each  from 
Macon  than  they  are  to-day  from  New  York,  Cincinnati, 
Chicago  and  St.  Louis.  When  the  Central  Railroad,  in 
1852,  was  authorized  to  lease  any  road  with  which  it  then 
connected,  or  might  thereafter  connect,  built  or  to  be  built, 
it  was  given  a  power  relatively  more  potential,  in  regard  to 
the  railroads  then  existing,  than  that  possessed  by  any  rail- 
road combination  of  today,  however  wide  its  ramifications. 


15 

The  discriminations  of  nature  which  have  before  been 
described,  the  immense  growth  of  the  country,  the  perfec- 
tion of  inventions  giving  more  complete  control  over  steam 
and  electricity,  enabling  the  rapid  despatch  of  business  and 
the  instantaneous  transmission  of  thought,  the  widening 
and  constantly  extending  avenues  of  trade,  the  vigorous 
and  active  competition  of  distant  markets,  the  necessity  to 
commerce  for  low  rates,  require  agencies  of  transportation 
as  potential  and  as  far  reaching,  as  the  conditions  which 
surround  them. 

THE    RAILROAD    COMBINATIONS    OF   TO-DAY   BARELY    KEEP 
PACE  WITH   THE  SURROUNDING    CONDITIONS. 

The  railroad  combinations  of  to-day  barely  keep  pace 
with  the  steady  and  growing  demands  of  these  condi- 
tions. New  York  and  San  Francisco,  New  Orleans  and 
Chicago,  are  actually  neighbors.  Electricity,  out-run- 
ning time,  places  the  prices  of  commodities,  in  London  and 
Paris,  on  the  breakfast  table  of  the  American  merchant, 
and  makes  what  once  were  distant  cities  but  warehouses  in 
one  common  market.  The  merchant  of  New  York  finds  his 
market  in  London  and  his  storehouse  in  Chicago,  or  some 
other  distant  city,  and  in  order  to  determine  the  prices  at 
which  he  can  trade  he  must  know  the  rates  of  freight  from 
the  most  distant  points.  So  clear  is  the  necessity  for  poten- 
tial agencies  of  transportation  that  if  there  is  a  single  fact 
admitted  by  all,  it  is  that  railroad  combinations,  in  some 
form,  must  exist,  should  exist,  and  are  positively  beneficial 
to  the  country.  Railroads  are  but  arteries  of  commerce, 
but  instruments  of  transportation,  and  it  requires  no  wis- 
dom to  see  that  the  more  powerful  the  means,  the  stronger 
the  instruments,  the  better  they  serve  the  purpose  of  their 
creation.  Sir,  if  now,  as  fifty  years  ago,  there  existed  no 
means  of  communication  save  the  wagon,  the  stage  coach 
and  the  boat,  it  would  require  no  argument  to  convince 


16 

you  that  it  would  be  better  to  locate  your  store-bouse  or 
your  factory  on  the  banks  of  the  mighty  Mississippi,  with 
its  thousands  of  miles  of  navigable  tributaries,  than  on 
Peachtree  creek  or  the  Chattahoochee  river.  It  requires 
no  argument  to  show  that  it  is  better  to-day  to  locate  your 
storehouse  or  your  factory  upon  a  vast  system  of  railroads, 
stretching  with  its  connections  from  ocean  to  ocean,  from 
lake  to  gulf,  and  carrying  the  commerce  of  the  continent, 
than  to  locate  it  on  a  little  narrow  gauge  road  running 
from  Cartersville  to  Cedartown  and  handling  merely  the 
commerce  of  local  communities. 

CAUSE  OF    THE  CONTINUOUS    THROUGH    LINE  THEORY. 

But  it  is  said  that  the  only  beneficial  kind  of  combina- 
tion is  that  between  continuous  through  lines;  that  it  is 
good,  all  others  bad;  that  it  should  be  promoted,  encour- 
aged and  fostered ;  that  all  others  should  be  destroyed. 
Whence  sprung  this  continuous  through-line  theory  ?  Put 
your  finger  on  New  York  bay,  then  run  it  along  the  Hud- 
son and  the  Erie  canal,  connecting  its  deep  and  navigable 
waters  with  the  broad  and  navigable  waters  of  the  western 
lakes.  Look  at  the  railroad  lines  on  each  side  stretching 
out  to  western  markets.  It  requires  no  historical  state- 
ment to  show  that  the  continuous  through-line  theory  grew 
up  in  that  section  of  the  country ;  that  before  the  days  of 
railroads  the  means  of  communication  between  the  north 
Atlantic  sea  coast  and  the  great  northwest,  were  these  great 
western  lakes  and  the  canals,  connecting  with  the  rivers  that 
emptied  into  the  sea ;  that  the  railroads  were  built  to  com- 
pete with  these  waterways.  It  was,  therefore,  a  logical 
deduction  that  the  form  of  railroad  combination  best  adap- 
ted to  the  development  of  that  section  of  the  country,  was 
that  which  ran  in  parallel  lines  to  the  waterways;  and  yet, 
in  spite  of  these  natural  conditions,  you  find  the  New 
York  Central  system   controlling  the  double-tracked   lines 


17 

on  both  sides  of  the  Hudsou,  stretching  out  two  continuous, 
through,  parallel  lines  all  the  way  from  the  eastern  seacoast 
to  the  city  of  Chicago,  to  say  nothing  of  the  lines  from 
point  to  point  which  it  controls  in  addition.  And  you  find 
every  great  railroad  system  in  that  section  owning  or  con- 
trolling parallel  lines  of  roads,  in  the  face  of  obsolete  laws, 
passed  before  the  people  had  become  enlightened  to  the 
true  relation  the  railroads  bear  to  them,  and  to  the  com- 
merce of  the  continent. 

BEST    FORM    OF    COMBINATION    FOR    THE    SOUTHEAST. 

But,  sir,  I  deny  that  the  same  theory  of  combination  is 
best  for  every  section  of  the  country;  that  the  railroad 
combination  which  parallels  our  seacoast,  drying  up  our  sea- 
coast  cities,  is  best  for  this  section  of  the  country.  Sir,  that 
claas  of  railroad  combination  is  best,  which  is  best  adapted 
to  the  development  of  the  material  resources  of  the  country 
through  which  it  runs,  which  is  most  conducive  to  the 
promotion  of  its  industries,  to  the  increase  of  its  population 
and  wealth.  It  is  well,  sir,  not  to  adopt  blindly  the  theo- 
ries and  dogmas  of  others,  but  to  look  deeper  and  ascertain 
what  natural  causes  underlie  them,  and  then  to  study  closely 
our  own  natural  conditions  and  ascertain  whether  those 
theories  are  adapted  to  the  promotion  of  our  welfare  and 
prosperity. 

This  brings  us  to  the  southeast.  In  order  to  determine 
the  class  of  railroad  combination  which  is  best  adapted  for 
our  welfare,  we  must  study  our  topographical  and 
geographical  position,  the  conditions  that  underlie  our 
present  and  future  development,  and  our  situation  in 
relation  to  the  other  sections  of  the  country.  We 
have  no  great  waterway  running  at  right  angles  from 
our  sea  coast  to  the  center  of  the  northwest,  along  which 
parallel  systems  of  railroads  can  be  built.  On  the  contrary, 
a  mountain   chain  runs   down    from  the    northeast  to  the 


18 

southwest,  steadily  receding  iroiii  tiie  Atlantic  sea  coast  until 
at  a  point  wher«  we  stand,  it  runs  off  in  ridges  to  the  coastal 
})laiu,  and  turning  westward  impinges  on  the  GulPs  sIo])e, 
the  Mississippi  and  the  Ohio  valleys.     The  rivers  rising  in 
this  mountain  region   run   to  the  Atlantic,  to  the  Gulf  and 
to  the  Ohio,  near  where  it  joins  th«  Mississippi.    They  all  rise 
in  a  common  section.     The  springs  of  one  of  the  branches 
of  the  Tennessee  lie  further  east  than  the  s])rings  from  which 
flows  the  beautiful  Savannah.    Their  crystal  waters  sparkling 
in  the  mountain  sunlight,  run  near  each  other,  but  in  oppo- 
site directions,  one  seeeking  the  Ohio,  the  other  the  Atlantic ; 
while  the  Chattahoochee,  rising  near  by,  empties  into  the 
Gulf.      What  is  true  of  these  three  rivers  is  true  of  others. 
The  whole  face  of  the  country  is  broken  and  uneven,  full  of 
mountain  peaks  and   fertile  valleys,  and  a  perfect  network 
of  streams,  running  in  all  directions.     The  rain  that  falls  on 
one  side  of  the  ridge  on  which  this  building  stands  seeks 
the  Gulf,    while    that   falling  on  the  other  flows  into  the 
Atlantic.     With  the  Potomac  on  the  northeast,  the  Ohio  on 
the  northwest,  the  Mississippi  on  the  west,  the  Gulf  on  the 
S()uth  and  the  Atlantic  on  the  east,  our  section  is  almost  an 
island,  widening  as  it  approaches  the  southwest,  highest  in 
the  center,  and  sloping  off  gradually  to  the  Ohio,  the  Mis- 
sissippi, the  Gulf  and  the  Atlantic.     The  high  latitude,  the 
splendid  climate,  the  inexhaustible  supply  of  coal,  iron  and 
limestone,  the  hard  woods,  the  cotton,  the  pine  forests  near 
by  on  our  coastal  plains,  combine  to   make  this  Piedmont 
region  the  fitting  home  for  thriving  millions,  and  to  furnish 
fruitful  sources  for  the  supply   of  the  raw  material  needed 
in  the  manufacture  of  the  important  articles  of  modern  com- 
merce.    How   splendidly  the   situation   of  this    section    is 
adapted  to  the  purpose  of  enabling  its  inhabitants  to  com- 
pete for  a  share  of  the  commerce  of  the  world !  Take  Atlanta 
as  its  center.     She  is  almost  equi-distant  from  Charleston, 
Port  Royal,  Savannah  and   Brunswick — on  the  Atlantic — 


n> 


door- way  through  which  to  seek  a  share  of  the  commence 
floated  on  the  bosom  of  that  splendid  ocean;  from  Pensacola 
and  Mobile^ — on  the  Gulf — safe  harbors  for  the  trade  of 
South  America,  and  when  the  Nicaraguan  canal  shall  be 
opened  for  that  of  the  western  coast  of  the  Americas,  and 
distant  Asia;  from  New  Orleans,  Vicksburg,  Greenville  and 
Memphis  on  the  Mississippi,  where  connections  are  made 
with  the  great  systems  of  roads  gridironing  the  southwest  and 
the  northwest;  from  Louisville  and  Cincinnati  on  the  Ohio, 
gate- ways  to  the  great  central  western  states,  now  the  center 
of  the  population  of  the  country.  From  the  northeast, 
running  to  the  southwest,  you  find  vast  forests  of  yellow 
pine.  From  the  west  to  the  east  of  north  you  find  coal 
and  iron  and  limestone  in  limitless  quantities.  Circling 
everywhere  you  find  the  cotton  fields,  and  abundant  water 
power  in  the  very  midst  of  those  which  are  upon  the  higher 
lands;  and  on  the  coastal  plains  and  the  gulf  slope,  in  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  valleys,  along  all  the  streams  and 
rivers,  everywhere,  fertile  fields  ada])ted  to  every  kind  of 
agriculture. 

Xow,  sir,  with  the  conditions  that  surround  us,  with  our 
vast  natural  resources,  with  powerful  railway  systems  already 
formed  north  of  the  Ohio  seeking  to  monopolize  the  markets 
of  the  north  and  west,  I  ask  you  what  system  of  railroads, 
what  character  of  combinations,  is  best  calculated  for  the 
development  of  our  section  and  the  welfare  of  our  people  ? 
Suppose  to-day  there  was  not  a  railroad  system  in  the  south- 
east, that  we  were  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  no  theories  or 
dogmas  imported  from  a  section  governed  by  different  nat- 
ural conditions,  what  character  of  railroad  system  would 
you  build?  As  our  splendid  climate  and  wealth  of  raw 
material  lie  in  the  center,  you  would  build  a  network  of 
roads  stretching  everywhere,  to  gather  the  varied  classes  of 
raw  material  and  bring  them  to  the  common  productive 
centers,  and  thence,  radiating  in  all  directions,  to  send  the 


20 

commerce  of  this  section  pulsating  outward  again  into 
every  market  in  America,  and  not  content  there,  to  en- 
able you  to  send  it  in  iron  ships  made  from  American 
material,  and  flying  the  American  flag  to  every  port  in 
Christendom  ! 

It  was  the  natural  formation  of  our  country  that  enabled 
the  president  of  the  great  commercial  convention  at  Mem- 
phis, in  1845,  to  foresee  that  all  the  important  roads  then 
projected  would  meet,  as  he  expressed  it,  ^^at  a  point  in 
DeKalb  county,  Georgia,  not  far  from  Decatur,'' where  each, 
looking  only  to  its  isolated  rival  interest,  would  contribute 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  whole,  forming  one  system  of  roads 
— a  prophecy  remarkable  because  made  long  before  there 
was  a  system  of  roads  in  the  world,  and  because  it  recog- 
nized that  railroad  development  would  and  should  conform 
itself  to  natural  surrounding  conditions. 

If  all  your  roads  were  formed  under  the  continuous 
through  line  theory  and  stretched  from  towards  New  York 
and  Pennsylvania  southwest  to  the  Gulf  and  the  Mississippi, 
paralleling  the  Atlantic  coast  with  branches  into  your  mines 
and  your  cotton  fields,  would  it  not  be  to  their  interest  to 
close  up  your  sea-ports,  to  take  your  raw  material  to  the 
factories  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  England,  and  return  to 
you  their  manufactured  products  and  the  imports  of  the 
world,  brought  in  through  the  harbor  of  New  York,  and  to 
make  your  section  in  every  way  tributary  to  the  northeast? 
On  the  other  hand,  it  Avould  be  the  direct  interest  of  a  great 
system  of  roads  centering  in  our  Piedmont  section,  covering 
it  with  lines  and  radiating  out  to  the  ports  of  the  Atlantic 
and  to  the  cities  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Ohio  to  develop 
all  our  material  resources,  and  to  make  our  section  the  seat 
of  a  productive  activity  unsurpassed  in  the  history  of  the 
world. 

Sir,  I  glory  in  the  development  of  Massachusetts  and 
New  York,  of  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.       I  would  not,  if  I 


21 

could,  cripple  one  industry  within  their  borders,  but  I 
would  see  this  Southern  country  in  generous  rivalry  and 
noble  emulation,  enter  upon  an  earnest  effort  to  equal  and 
surpass  their  slvill  in  manufacture  and  in  wealth-producing 
power.  I  would  see  formed  here  those  strong  and  power- 
ful avenues  of  commerce  that  would  enable  us  to  compete 
with  them  in  every  market  of  the  world.  This  has  been 
impossible  under  the  conditions  which  has-e  until  recently 
existed  and  which  are  now  only  partially  destroyed.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  every  railroad  system  in  the  South,  however 
far  extended,  is  now  essentially  local,  in  that,  it  handles  but 
little  save  the  business  tributary  to  its  own  lines,  and  is 
debarred  from  participation  in  the  commerce  of  the  country, 
which,  beyond  the  Mississippi,  is  gathered  up  by  the  sys- 
tems of  western  roads,  and  is  poured  to  the  east  over  the 
trunk  lines  north  of  the  Ohio.  We  only  get  that  portion 
which  eddies  in  from  the  great  commercial,  streams  and  set- 
tles here  for  local  consumption.  From  the  commerce  of 
the  continent,  flowing  over  the  trunk  lines  through  the 
ports  of  the  east,  a  small  stream  turns  down  our  south  At- 
lantic sea  cost,  and,  entering  through  our  ports,  eddies  into 
the  interior,  and  there  stops.  Another  small  current 
breaking  away  from  the  great  streams  north  of  the  Ohio, 
flows  in  more  directly  from  the  west  until  broken  to  pieces 
upon  our  mountain  ranges.  Very  little  of  it  gets  over  the 
ridge  and  flows  on  to  the  sea.  The  result  is  that  the  rates 
of  freight,  on  western  produce,  regulated  by  the  volume  of 
traffic,  grow  higher  in  the  interior  of  the  Southeast,  creat- 
ing a  ridge  of  rates,  small  in  themselves,  cheap  in  their 
charges,  but  relatively  dear  compared  with  those  on  either 
side.  Measured  by  freight  rates  produced  by  external  con- 
ditions, the  interior  southeast  is  farthest  from  the  produc- 
tive centers  of  the  West.  This  condition  is  due  to  the 
lines  on  which  our  railroad  systems  have  been  formed- 
This  formation  in  turn  is  due  partly  to   the  absorbing  com- 


22 

incrcial  power  ot  New  York,  partly  to  the  through  line 
theory  specially  applicable  to  different  natural  conditions, 
but  chiefly  to  the  fact  that  just  at  the  period  of  time  when 
the  central  Western  States  were  being  developed  by  rail- 
roads, and  when  we  of  the  South  were  seeking  through 
State  aid,  through  private  enterprise,  and  through  every 
means  in  our  power  to  reach  the  West,  the  destroying 
blight  of  the  civil  war  overtook  us,  and  paralyzed  all  our 
efforts  to  reach  the  Western  markets.  The  South  was  shut 
off  for  four  long  years  from  intercourse  with  the  world,  and 
this  gave  her  Eastern  competitors  an  enormous  start  in  the 
race  for  the  control  of  the  Western  markets ;  but  worse, 
the  wreck  of  the  war  carried  down  her  fortunes,  destroyed 
her  property — not  alone  in  slaves,  but  in  bonds  and  stocks 
and  every  species  of  personal  property — leaving  her  with 
nothing  but  her  land  and  the  energies  of  her  people,  and 
confronting  them  with  social  and  political  problems  which 
have  taxed  their  resources  to  the  utmost  to  solve.  Her 
credit  ^vas  destroyed  and  the  success  of  great  enterprises 
rendered  impossible.  Recognizing  the  necessity  for  railroad 
development  our  people  made  vain  endeavors,  through  the 
credit  of  the  States,  to  extend  our  lines,  but  such  was  the  po- 
sition in  which  we  were  placed  that  financial  ruin  followed 
close  upon  the  steps  of  every  railroad  enterprise,  and  the 
most  the  railroads  could  do  was  to  handle,  in  an  imperfect 
way,  their  local  business.  During  this  whole  period  the 
North  was  extending  her  railroads,  combining  short  lines 
into  great  systems,  and  manning  the  commercial  forts  of 
Cincinnati,  Chicago  and  St.  Louis  and  other  important 
commercial  centers.  Her  wealth  and  her  population  in- 
creased with  phenomenal  rapidity,  while  our  seaboard  cities, 
too  poor  to  aspire  to  the  control  of  systems  reaching  the 
Northwest,  lost  largely  even  the  business  that  was  formerly 
tributary  to  them.  Our  important  systems,  except  the 
Central  of  Georgia,  attracted  by  the  business  of  the  North- 


east,  aud  the  all-absorbing  commercial  power  of  New  York, 
assumed  the  continuous  line  form,  and  stretching  from,  the 
North  and  Northeast  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  steadily 
took  the  business  of  our  section  away  from  the  South 
Atlantic  ports. 

The  cx)mmerce  of  the  continent  gave  to  the  great  systems 
n<»rth  of  the  Ohio  a  vast  volume  of  frieght,  and  this 
volume  of  freight  enabled  them  t(^  give  very  low  rates, 
white  the  southern  roads,  serving  a  section  shut  out  from 
any  share  in  tlie  commerce  of  the  northwest,  compelled  to 
look  only  to  local  business,  have  been  forced  to  charge 
more.  The  result  of  these  conditions  is,  that  the  railroads 
of  the  southeastern  group  earn  less  per  mile  than  any 
other  group  of  railroads  in  the  country.  They  earn  gross 
about  $3,800  a  mile,  with  an  average  rate  of  freight  of 
one  and  eighteen  thousands  of  a  cent  per  ton  per  mile; 
while  the  central  group  north  of  the  Ohio  river  on  an 
average  rate  of  eighty-three  hundredths  of  a  cent  per  ton 
per  mile,  earn  about  S14,775  gross  per  mile,  and  about 
§4,900  net  or  Si, 100  more  net  per  mile,  than  the  south- 
eastern group  earns  gross.  The  larger  the  volume  of 
freight,  the  lower  the  rate  is  the  rule. 

What  we  need  is  that  character  of  railroad  combination 
which  will  enable  the  southeast  to  enter  vigorously  into 
competition  with  the  north  for  a  skare  of  the  commerce  of 
the  continent,  and  that  will  tend  to  promote  the  industrial 
development  of  our  Piedmont  and  mountain  section  and 
build  up  our  South  Atlantic  seaports. 

EFFPXT  OF  PUOPEK  FOIiM    OF   COMBIXATIOX    AN1>  OF  WIDE- 
SPREAD COMPETITION  UPON  THE  SOUTHEAST. 

What  will  be  the  effect  of  such  a  railroad  combination  and 
such  widespread  competition  upon  the  southeast  no  one  can 
estimate.  When  the  Pennsylvania  road  was  being  built  it  was 
vigorously  opposed.     Simon  Cameron,  its  earnest  supporter. 


24 

making  a  speech  in  its  favor,  predicted  that  the  time  would 
come  when  the  people  of  Harrisburg  would  be  able  to  go 
to  Philadelphia  in  a  single  day.  When  he  had  finished 
his  speech,  a  friend  said  to  him:  '^That^s  all  very  well, 
Simon,  to  tell  the  boys,  but  you  and  I  are  no  such  infernal 
fools  as  to  believe  it."  To-day  the  trip  is  made  in  two 
hours.  The  development  of  the  country  has  always  out- 
run the  expectation  of  the  most  sanguine.  The  day  is  not 
far  distant  when  a  population  of  a  quarter  of  a  million  will 
crowd  the  streets  of  this  city,  when  places  now  unnamed, 
will  be  the  sites  of  vigorous  manufacturing  towns,  when 
Chattanooga,  and  Birmingham,  and  Knox vi lie,  and  Mem- 
phis Avill  be  great  and "  important  cities,  the  seats  of 
splendid  enterprises;  when  our  South  Atlantic  ports,  from 
Norfolk  to  Brunswick  will  feel  the  quickening  influences  of 
commercial  prosperity,  and  when  the  commerce  of  this 
section  will  again  flow  through  their  harbors,  making  them 
as  relatively  more  important  than  they  were  in  earlier  days, 
as  the  prosperity  and  wealth  of  this  section  in  the  future 
will  be  greater  than  it  was  in  the  past. 

And  through  it  all  we  see  the  roads  lessening  their  rates 
as  they  increase  the  volume  of  their  freights,  the  one 
acting  and  re-acting  upon  the  other. 

THE  SOUTH  CAN  ENTER  SUCCESSFULLY  THE  FIELD  OF  COM- 
MERCIAL COMPETITION. 

The  great  questions  arc  :  Can  the  South  enter  success- 
fully the  field  of  widespread,  commercial  competition  ?  Can 
a  railroad  system  be  formed  in  her  midst  that  will  be  able 
to  compete  w^ith  the  great  systems  north  of  the  Ohio  ?  ^yhy 
not?  We  have  already  considered  her  wonderful  natural 
resources.  But  in  the  coves  of  the  mountains,  on  the  slopes 
of  the  foot  hills,  on  the  plains  of  the  Atlantic,  you  find  a 
wealth  greater  than  all  of  these.  You  find  an  active,  vigor- 
ous,   intelligent,  white   population,    through    whose    veins 


25 

courses  the  Auglo-Saxoii  blood,  and  that  of  the  races  which 
have  dominated  and  controlled  the  world — men  who  have 
learned  the  power  of  controlling  their  passions  and  their 
prejudices,  and,  uniting  with  their  brothers  of  the  North 
and  West,  have  furnished  history  its  noblest  example  of 
self-government.  Men  who,  meeting  bravely  and  with 
forbearance  the  poverty  and  ills  of  re-construction  days, 
have  rehabilitated  our  glorious  South,  restored  to  her  good 
government,  clothed  her  with  rich  raiments,  and  set  upon 
her  fair  brow  the  laurels  won  in  the  victories  of  peace. 
These  people  are  capable  of  the  highest  development  in 
every  walk  of  life.  From  them  have  sprung  the  majority  of 
those  who  have  built  this  splendid  city.  From  them  have 
sprung  the  business  and  professional  men,  who  through 
their  capacity,  intelligence  and  honesty,  have  won  reputa- 
tions and  fortunes  in  distant  cities.  From  them  have  sprung 
the  statesmen  who  helped  to  form  the  government  of  our 
common  country,  and  helped  to  crown  it  with  fame  imper- 
ishable. There  are  millions  of  white  people  throughout 
the  South  capable  of  attaining  the  highest  skill  in  manu- 
facturing arts,  and  our  section  will  yet  surprise  the  world 
by  its  industrial  development. 

And  how  advatageous  is  the  situation  of  this  section  with 
relation  to  the  other  sections  of  the  country,  and  what 
advantages  it  offers  for  the  formation  of  great  railway  sys- 
tems !  The  shortest  line  from  the  southwest,  and  from  the 
central  portions  of  the  northwest  to  the  Atlantic  seacoast, 
runs  directly  through  Georgia.  From  Kansas  City  to  New 
York  is  1,348  miles,  to  Savannah  1,187  miles;  from  Fort 
Worth,  Tex.,  to  New  York  1,728  miles,  to  Savannah  1,147 
miles.  But  more  pronounced  still  is  the  advantage  of  our 
interior  cities,  which  are  so  well  located  for  great  manu- 
facturing activity.  From  Atlanta  to  Waco,  the  central  city 
of  Texas,  is  941  miles;  from  Waco  to  New  York  is  1,816 
miles;   from  Kansas  City  to  Birmingham   is  738  miles,  to 


26 

Pittsburg  905  miles ;  from  Denver  to  Columbus,  Ga., 
1,541  miles;  to  Lowell,  Mass.,  2,274  miles.  What  is  true 
of  these  places  is  true  in  an  equal  degree  of  the  whole  south- 
east and  of  the  whole  southwest.  The  latter,  which  is 
increasing  so  rapidly  in  population  and  wealth,  is  largely 
an  agricultural  section,  while  our  raw  materials  can  be 
readily  manufactured  into  all  articles  needed  to  supply  the 
wants  of  its  inhabitants;  and  in  the  interchange  of  traffic 
the  roads  will  be  able  to  secure  loads  for  their  cars  both 
ways.  With  the  shortest  lines,  we  have  the  lowest  capital- 
ization per  mile.  The  central  group  of  roads  lying  north 
of  the  Ohio  river  are  capitalized  at  ^121,267  per  mile;  the 
southeastern  group  at  $41,359;  while  the  great  southern 
system,  which  niore  particularly  embraces  the  Georgia 
roads,  is  capitalized  at  only  $37,140  per  mile.  More  impor- 
tant still,  there  has  been  a  steady  approximation  of  freight 
rates  all  over  the  country.  Twenty  years  ago  the  rate  on 
the  six  great  western  lines  centering  in  Chicago  was  2  cents 
and  4  mills  per  ton  per  mile,  and  on  the  seven  trunk 
lines  east  of  Chicago  1  cent  and  6  mills  per  ton  per  mile. 
In  1888,  the  average  rates  on  those  roads  west  of  Chicago 
had  fallen  to  nine  mills  per  ton  per  mile,  and  the  average 
rate  on  those  roads  east  of  Chicago  to  seven  mills  per  ton 
per  mile.  Where  there  was  a  difference  of  eight  mills  per 
ton  per  mile  twenty  years  ago,  there  is  now  less  than  two. 
The  reductions  on  the  Southern  roads  have  been  equally 
striking.     Take  the  East  Tennessee  for  example: 

In  1885  its  average  rate  per  ton  per  mile  was .0119 

In  1886  its  average  rate  per  ton  per  mile  was. .0114 

In  1887  its  average  rate  per  ton  per  mile  was 0103 

In  1888  its  average  rate  per  ton  per  mile  was .0097 

In  1889  its  average  rate  per  ton  per  mile  was 0091 

It  is  an  important  fact  worthy  of  very  careful  note,  that 
the  average  rate  on  the  East  Tennessee  Road  is  now  the  same 
as  the  average  on  the  six  great  systems  west  of  Chicago  wais 


ill  1888,  and  that  there  is  a  difference  of  only  two  mills 
per  ton  per  mile  between  the  average  rate  on  the  l^ast  Ten- 
nessee and  that  on  the  eastern  trunk  lines.  The  mtes  on 
the  latter  have  reached,  or  nearly  reached,  the  minimum. 
It  is  inconceivable  that  they  can  move  freight  at  a  much 
less  cost,  while  the  increase  of  traffic  will  enable  the  south- 
ern roads  to  meet  their  rates.  It  takes  but  a  mathematical 
calculation  to  demonstrate  that  when  the  rates  on  the  south- 
ern roads  closely  approximate  the  rates  on  the  northern 
lines,  the  shortness  of  the  southern  lines  to  the  sea  will  tell 
with  tremendous  effect  upon  the  commerce  of  the  continent. 
That  portion  of  the  rate  accruing  to  the  roads  west  of  the 
Mississippi  will  necessarily  be  greater,  and  the  inducement 
for  the  independent  systems  of  the  southwest  to  send  their 
business  over  the  lines  of  the  southeast  will  be  overwhelm- 
ing. Not  five  years  ago  the  gauge  of  the  railroads  of  the 
south  was  for  the  first  time  brought  into  unison  with  the 
standard  of  the  country,  and  already  we  see  vast  combina- 
tions ready  to  enter  the  field  to  win  for  lier  a  share  of  the 
commerce  of  the  continent.  Surrounding  conditions  con- 
spire to  favor  their  efforts.  It  is  difficult  to  appreciate  the 
increase  of  business  in  the  south  or  its  effect  upon  reducing 
the  average  milroad  charges  upon  commerce.  In  188-3,  the 
tonnage  of  the  East  Tennessee  Road  reduced  to  miles  was 
201,700,000;  in  1888  it  had  grown  to  424,800,000,  more 
than  double.  Without  this  increase  of  tonnage  the  East 
Tennessee  Road  could  not  have  handled  its  business  at  the 
average  rate  of  last  year  and  escaped  bankruptcy.  With 
it,  it  was  able  to  increase  its  net  earnings. 

Atlanta's  oppoRTrxiTV. 

Sir,  the  South's  opportunity  has  come.  If  she  can  but 
rouse  the  slumbering  energies  of  her  people  she  will 
astound  the  world  by  the  splendor  of  her  career.  It  is 
especially  important  that  our  glorious  city  should  wake  to 


28 

the  realization  of  the  opportunities  offered  her.  Let  her 
'  '^p  as  (lid  Decatur  fifty  years  ago,  but  let  her,  with 
.strong  and  powerful  hand,  grasp  what  fate  has  tendered, 
and  become  what  she  ought  to  be,  the  center  of  a  great 
system  of  roads  stretching  with  its  connections  over  all 
parts  of  the  country,  bringing  to  her  door  all  classes  of 
raw  material,  and  offering  to  her  manufacturers  the  distant 
markets  of  the  continent  for  their  products.  See  how  our 
local  territory  is  being  invaded  by  a  line  stretching  down 
from  Chattanooga  to  Carrollton  and  projected  on  to  Co- 
lumbus, by  another  projected  across  from  Chattanooga  to 
Augusta,  by  another  already  built  from  Athens  to  Macon, 
and  by  another  being  built  from  Macon  to  Birmingham. 
From  the  east  the  Georgia,  Carolina  and  Northern,  meeting 
the  Macon  and  Covington  at  Athens,  which  at  Macon  con- 
nects with  the  Georgia,  Florida  and  Southern,  offers  the 
whole  business  of  the  section  traversed  by  these  lines  a 
shorter  outlet  to  the  east  than  that  through  Atlanta.  Let 
Atlanta  not  forget  that  those  natural  conditions  of  mountain 
and  of  valley,  which  made  her  truly  the  gateway  of  the 
southeast,  are  being  destroyed  by  the  feats  of  the  civil 
engineer  and  the  lessening  price  of  steel.  Let  her  remember 
that  new  roads  may  offer  greater  facilities  to  her  rivals  than 
to  her.  Fate  has  put  within  her  grasp  a  higher  destiny 
than  mere  competition  for  local  markets.  Her  future  lies 
in  becoming  a  great  productive  center.  If  she  realizes  and 
seizes  her  opportunities  the  inroads  upon  her  local  territory 
will  be  a  thousand  fold  off-set  by  the  great  avenues  of  com- 
merce opened  by  her  railway  combinations. 

THE  CONTROL  OF  THE  RAILROADS  REST  WITH  THE  PEOPLE. 

Sir,  the  final  argument  of  the  demagogue,  when  driven 
from  debate  by  reason  and  incontrovertible  statistics,  is  the 
cry  of  alarm  and  the  charge  of  monopoly.  He  falls  back 
upon  the  statement  that  the  combinations  will   control   the 


29 

people.  Sir,  to-day  the  throned  monarch  trembles  at  the 
people's  voice,  and  throughout  the  civilized  world  the 
people  are  persistently  asserting  their  rights.  To  say  that 
in  this  country,  the  people  cannot  control  their  railroads, 
however  great,  however  strong,  however  powerful  the  roads 
may  grow,  is  to  charge  the  people  with  incompetency.  Do 
they  deserve  this  insult?  Their  glorious  achievements 
answer,  Xo  !  The  principle  that  every  railroad,  great  or 
small,  is  subject  to  the  people's  control  has  become  a  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  our  national  jurisprudence.  Embodied 
in  our  constitutions,  enacted  by  our  statutes,  declared  by  our 
Supreme  Courts,  State  and  Federal,  it  receives  universal 
recognition  and  commands  universal  obedience.  The  rail- 
roads get  their  power  from  the  people.  They  hold  it  at  the 
people's  will ;  and,  should  any  combination  of  roads  at  any 
time  undertake  to  oppress  or  injure,  the  people  would  rise 
in  their  might  and  tear  them  limb  from  limb.  But  a 
recognition  of  these  facts  should  make  the  people  most 
conservative.  They  want  their  country  developed  ;  they 
want  more  railroads  ;  they  want  new  avenues  of  commerce; 
and  they  cannot  expect  them  unless  the  man  who  puts  his 
capital  into  them  can  rely  upon  the  people's  protection. 
Around  your  home  and  around  your  factories  the  law  has 
planted  hedges,  but  to  the  railroads  the  law  has  said  : 
"  You  hold  your  powers  subject  to  the  people's  will." 

Sir,  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  great  apostle  of  civil  liberty 
and  equal  rights,  believed  no  more  firmly  in  people's  capac- 
ity for  self-government  than  I,  and  with  faith  unquestion- 
ing, I  trust  to  the  wisdom  and  the  common  sense  of  the 
people,  the  solution  of  the  issues  of  the  present  and  the 
future.  Determine  what  character  of  combination  will  best 
promote  your  interest  and  your  welfare,  and  then  dismiss 
forever  the  shadow  cast  by  the  fear  that  the  people  will  fail 
to  control  their  creatures. 

Sir,  in  societv  as  in  nature  two  forces  are  always  at  work. 


;K) 


Co-existciit  witli  the  formation  of  the  world,  we  find  them 
everywhere,  through  everything,  the  animate  and  the  inan- 
imate. They  are  the  principles  of  creation  and  destruction. 
They  constantly  contend  and  men  unconsciously  range 
themselves  under  their  respective  banners,  and  society  be- 
(;()mes  di voided  into  two  classes — those  w4io  would  create 
and  build  up ;  those  who  would  tear  down  and  destroy. 
Among  the  one  we  find  the  })atriot,  the  philanthropist — 
those  who  would  devek)p  the  material  resources  of  their 
country,  would  promote  its  happiness  and  prosperity,  would 
knit  it  together  in  indissoluble  bonds;  those  w^ho  love  man- 
kind. Among  the  other — those  who,  without  capacity  for 
adding  to  the  prosperity  of  their  State  or  section,  are  filled 
with  jealousy  by  the  work  of  others — those  who  arc  ready 
to  destroy,  but  offer  to  erect  nothing  in  the  place  of  the 
edifice  they  would  pull  down ;  those  who  live  upon  the 
accidents  and  misfortunes  of  their  fellows;  the  political  agi- 
tators, the  prototypes  of  him  who  fell  because  he  would 
rather  rule  in  hell  than  serve  in  heaven,  who  fan  the  em- 
bers of  discontent,  nor  care  what  the  flames  may  burn  so 
they  but  light  the  pathway  of  their  ambitions.  Destruction 
sometimes  wins — death  has  its  victim  ;  but  creation  con- 
quers and  life  springs  from  decay.  Destruction's  victories 
are  short  lived.  As  rejuvenating  spring  soon  wipes  out  the 
scars  of  winter,  so  the  warm. and  patriotic  love  of  the  cre- 
ative element,  fashioned  after  Him  who  made  and  redeemed 
mankind,  always  triumphs.  Inspired  with  this  thought,  let 
us,  with  broad  and  liberal  views,  seek  to  create  and  pro- 
mote the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  this  State  and  section 
until  its  people  rank  among  the  foremost  industrial  people 
of  the  world  ;  nor  let  us  stop  there,  but  w  ith  a  patriotism 
too  deep  and  too  broad  to  be  sectional  or  selfish,  let  us  wipe 
out  the  last  vestige  of  difference  between  the  North  and 
South;  and,  recognizing  that  the  problems  of  one  are  the 
problems  of  all,  stand  with    our  faces  to  the  East,  ready  to 


hail  the  day  that  breaks  upon  a  country  wedded  to  a  com- 
mon interest,  whose  Stiates  and  sections  are  tied  with  the 
bonds  of  fraternal  love,  and  w  hich  reveals  the  American  flag 
in  every  part  of  Christendom,  the  highest  emblem  of  com- 
mercial enterprise  and  Christian  civilization. 


Gaylord  Bros..  Inc. 

Stockton,  Calif. 

T.M.  Reg.  U.S.  Pat. Off. 


M80328     H^J-n 


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